Berlin’s Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg appears wild and robust – and offers space for appropriation. In her design, Johanna König wants to further develop the existing qualities of the park. In her concept, she describes four areas for different uses. In her project presentation below, she explains where new meeting points are to be created and where visitors can come into contact with flora and fauna. The work was created as part of the “Into the Wild” design studio at TU Berlin. Johanna König worked on the “Human Nature” variant of the three pointed scenarios specified in the studio.
Perspectives: Loud plateau, Wide meadow, Light shadow and Forest gallery, Graphic: Johanna König
It’s not just in our September 2023 issue that we make space for student projects. Students also present their own work on our website – for example in this article. You can find all the projects on our “Studies” topic page and the September issue is available in our store.
Approach
Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg is particularly impressive due to its wild, unkempt and robust character. With its free, open and seemingly unplanned areas, it offers its visitors undisturbed spaces and sufficient room for appropriation. These qualities make the park unique in Berlin.
Site plan, graphic: Johanna König
Four intensities. One park.
The aim of my concept is to incorporate the existing qualities of the park, think ahead and develop them from the existing structure. The future uses should make the park more tangible and visible again. They should also enable children and young people in particular to discover the wild and natural character of this place.
The existing vegetation must be protected and used sparingly in order to ensure that children and young people can experience the park in the long term. To this end, four areas are being developed from the existing vegetation, which differ in terms of their intensity of use. The shady, quieter forest will be used only extensively, while the two plateaus and the new meadow stage will become colorful and highly frequented meeting places in the park.
Pictogram and conceptual section on the four intensities of use in the park, graphic: Johanna König
The forest.
Observing and listening to flora and fauna is the main focus in the dense forest area. Here, use takes place exclusively on and along the forest paths, so that the natural character remains protected. Niches and balconies along the paths create a forest gallery that invites visitors to take a break between strolls, while at the same time allowing conscious views into the forest and offering them the opportunity for environmental education.
Concept for the forest gallery in the shady and quiet forest area of the park. Graphic: Johanna König
In the light shade.
Here, children and young people in particular are explicitly invited to explore and investigate the forest with its topography and overgrown undergrowth. The character of the loosely tree-covered area is characterized by natural play elements made of wood, slope slides and tree houses for climbing.
In the flowering meadow.
The open play and sunbathing area invites you to play sports, frisbee or ball games as well as any form of appropriation. This area should deliberately remain open and free. The flowering meadow islands and occasional loose groups of seating and lounging furniture as well as meadow swings offer the opportunity to linger for longer.
Pictogram for space creation and vegetation. The varying intensity of the vegetation, from dense woody structures to solitary shrubs, gives the four park areas different spatial formations. Graphic: Johanna König
The colorful plateaus.
New meeting points are being created here in the park. The noisy plateau has a spacious round bench that combines inward communication and outward views. Stories can be told here around the campfire into the evening hours. The new meadow stage is designed as a grandstand and stage at the same time, which can be freely used for performances, music or dance. The quiet plateau is a green classroom and is concealed at the top of the mountain so that school classes, for example, can study there undisturbed.
The design was created as part of the “Into the Wild” design studio at the TU Berlin. You can read more about the background to the studio and Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg here, and discover more designs by students here.